Cranked-up Seattle stoner-rock trio Serial Hark to help Alibi celebrate nine years of live music

Stoner-rock powerhouse Serial Hawk out of Seattle will headline a show at The Alibi on Saturday night to mark the ninth anniversary of live music at the Arcata Plaza venue.

"We played Arcata for the first time in March and it was awesome," said Will Bassin, vocalist and guitarist of the volume-cranking trio. "(There was) a lot of great people and good energy (and we) can't wait to come back."

Exaggeratedly tuned-down with swings from fast-paced to sludgy and long progressive instrumental moments, the band's sound draws comparisons to the likes of (the now defunct) Isis, the Melvins and (the Josh Homme-fronted) Kyuss.

"When I moved to Seattle around six years ago I didn't know anyone at all, so trying to start a band was really tough," Bassin said. "I was open to some different things, but at the end of the day all I really wanted to do was blast the volume of my amps, play loud and write some straightforward music."

Founded by Bassin, the enormous-sounding trio also features Adam Holbrook and the newly-recruited Justin Rodda on drums. They're currently touring in support of their thunderous new four-song EP "Buried in the Gray," out digitally, on CD and via vinyl.

The trio just recently shared the stage with Portland stoner-metal standouts Red Fang at The Highline in Seattle on June 1.

"Red Fang is a great band and we've always really admired and respected those guys, so it was really special to be able to play with them," Bassin said. "Same goes with Sandrider who were also on the bill that night."

Adam Pike, who served as an engineer on Red Fang's 2009 debut self-titled tracked, mixed Serial Hawk's new EP.

"We've had these songs written in some form for a while now, so we spent some time refining them, thinking about how we wanted to record them and when we met Adam and looked at his resumé we pretty much knew right away that he was someone we wanted to work with," Bassin said. "The title of the EP is from the first song, 'A Fraction of Light.' We didn't really plan out the title too much, but that particular line stuck out to us and so we went with it."

The power and prowess behind Serial Hawk has been something their frontman had in mind for years. After a long period of checking out Seattle's scene, he knew the right pieces to the puzzle were laid out before him.

"When I moved to Seattle I didn't know anyone, so I met musicians on Craigslist for the most part," he said. "Years went on like that -- it was really discouraging -- but I kept going to shows and seeing a lot of great bands playing locally and I knew the band that I wanted to start was out there, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and try and get a band going that was exactly what I wanted to do."

After meeting the band's first drummer through a mutual friend and enlisting Holbrook on the low end weeks later, Bassin eventually saw the original sticksman move in the summer of 2011.

"Justin is a great drummer -- he plays his ass off, hits hard and just makes us better -- what more could you ask for?" Bassin said.

Collectively, the trio recently saw San Jose stoner doom-metal trio Sleep, a performance Bassin credits for making him and Serial Hawk "different people." They cite Oregon doom-metal trio Yob as another band who "changes everything" for them.

Their show in Arcata on Saturday night will be their third on their current tour, after hitting Seattle and Portland and before hitting San Francisco, Sacramento and many other cities. With the heavy-rock Arcata four-piece El Yeti opening, the band is thrilled to be a part of the music-milestone for The Alibi.

"Nine years is huge -- we're honored and can't wait," Bassin said. "(We) had a lot of fun the last time we were down there, great people!"